Chapter XXI: The Sands of Ruin
For a desert kingdom, Ragna didn't exactly feel very warm in Plegia. Don't get him wrong, the terrain was made of endless sand and there didn't seem to be much plant life, he just didn't feel much heat. More like he felt cold while walking the sands to where the kingdom's capital lie… cold and a foreboding feeling of death. So far, the Shepherd hadn't encountered any forms of resistance as they marched along the sandy expanse.
The Reaper himself was keeping a rather neutral expression as he walked, but on the inside he was certainly troubled. News of Emmeryn's capture had hit him hard, and even Eliza's harsh words were starting to weigh down on him.
'How does it feel to be responsible for damning Ylisse to its grave and killing its Exalt?'
Ragna shuddered to himself as he kept walking. 'What the hell was I trying to prove letting Emm go alone? That I'm better than when I was back in my world? I should've gone a wrecked their armies at least then we would've…'
The Reaper then thought back to what Emmeryn had told him would happen to Plegia earlier. 'Families stripped apart from the carnage, starvation in the streets, the people in constant fear of Ylisse; wounds that would never heal for generations leading to further wars and more bloodshed.'
'Why do I feel that I can never find myself with an actual option?' Ragna thought to himself darkly. 'Kill thousands who want you dead and wreak a kingdom, or save one woman that the world actually needs… why the hell is it me that has to decide?'
Advice From a Runaway
"Hey Ragna, are you okay?" Ragna turned his head to see that his fellow worldly outsider Elphelt Valentine had approached him with a concerned look on her face. "You look like you're brooding over something."
"Brooding's a pretty good word for it," Ragna admitted as he continued walking. "Everything about where we're going is just pissing me off. I let Emmeryn leave and now she's about to executed when I could've stopped it. Can I really even say that I've got any control over all the shit I've had to go through?"
"You probably can't…" Elphelt said sadly. "I wasn't much different now that I think about it. Back in the world I came from there were these two that I always used to spend time with; my sister Ram and this other guy named Sin."
'Who the hell would name their kid Sin? It just sounds unreasonably cruel,' Ragna thought, but he kept that question to himself. "What about 'em was so bad?"
"Nothing, I had a lot of fun with them, some of my best moments really, but on the inside something felt wrong… I betrayed them, or rather I did what mother had made me to do and couldn't stop myself."
'Just like what happened then,' Ragna thought, remembering back when he had to stop Noel when she'd been smelted into her Murakumo unit by form by Yuuki Terumi. "What happened?"
"I was stopped by Frederick," Elphelt told him. Ragna looked to the Great Knight who was marching beside Chrom and gestured his thumb towards him in disbelief. "Oh, I mean someone from my world… Now that I think about it we actually called him Sol anyways," Elphelt remembered.
"And this Sol guy?" Ragna asked. Elphelt only tapped her fingertips together, apparently there were some unresolved feelings there. "What happened to you, after he stopped you I mean?"
"I was taken somewhere by my mother, and while I was there… I can't explain it, I felt like the part of me that you're looking at was torn away and was then replaced. I was stuck in the Backyard for some time before waking up in a field…"
"And then I found you by Southtown," Ragna concluded. Despite himself, he chuckled darkly and earned a surprised look from El. "I guess there's no point in either of us going home then?"
"I guess not; this is going to be my home now," Elphelt said before smiling. "It's at least treating me a bit better than the last one… in spite of everything"
"Yeah," Ragna said before remembering what was important now. True, Emmeryn might've been in Gangrel's hands, there was a war that could likely annihilate the continent, and several people were already suffering… but he wasn't out of this, not by a long shot.
"And if I try hard, maybe I'll finally find my soul mate!" El shouted as she gripped her hands in determination.
"...If that's what'll keep you going," Ragna finally said, sweating slightly at the strangeness of her end goal.
"What about you, what are you trying to do?" Elphelt asked him.
Ragna thought about it, he thought long and hard. Ever since he'd gotten here it'd been something to save or someone to talk to. Was he just trying to protect those close to him? That might've been part of it, but he didn't think it was his end goal. Was he trying to make new friends? It was nicer to have someone to talk to, but something about that didn't seem right either.
"I guess…" he finally began. "I'm just looking for a place in the world where they won't mind having a Reaper."
"Well…" Elphelt began, glancing to the rest of the Shepherds who were laughing with each other (some of it might've been at Ragna's expense). "I think you've found it."
"Yeah…" Ragna admitted with a nod before giving her a warm smile. "Maybe I have."
Support Rank B Obtained with Elphelt Valentine
Ragna continued walking onward, now feeling much more at ease than he'd been earlier. He noticed that Elphelt had walked off and was now chatting with Lissa, Cordelia, and Olivia. He allowed himself a content sigh before turning his spell book open. Remembering that he'd been working on Elfire last time, he decided to try and see if he could finish up any work he had left with it.
Reading over the incantation once more, Ragna began channeling the fire magic to his BlazBlue creating the red flames around it. He continued channeling the magic and started shaping it into a fireball. He dispelled the magic before channeling it again and quickly managed to learn to create a fireball at will.
"Well there's that," Ragna said as he stared at his arm before thinking to himself. 'I wonder if I can channel this into my sword like I did with wind magic a while ago…'
Boundless Energy
"Hey Ragna!" Ricken said as he approached the Reaper. "Practicing magic?"
"Yeah, at least until we get further into Plegia. We're a ways away from the capital, but I think we ought to keep our guard up."
"Yeah, no kidding," Ricken told him. "So… need any help studying magic?"
"You're not going to fall asleep if you help me are you?" Ragna asked with a smirk.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Ricken demanded with a small glare.
"Oh, just that I remembered something about you falling asleep in the snow," Ragna said with a chuckle. "That, and the the fact that I had to carry you most of the way to town."
"H-Hey, I woke up and walked most of the way back on foot," Ricken tried to defend himself. "Besides, do you have a right to pick on me if Chrom railed that badly on you?"
"I guess not, but why do you need to help me out with magic? I can probably figure it out myself with a bit of time."
"Uh… no reason, I just sort of figured… Promise you won't tell anyone?" Ricken pleaded.
"I dunno why you're trusting me instead of Chrom, but I promise," Ragna assured him.
"It's just that… well you're seen as one of the best Shepherds and everyone I know really looks up to you. I figured that maybe if I can help you learn magic people might start treating a little more seriously."
"Why are you concerned about the way others see you?" Ragna decided to ask. "If someone didn't like me or treat me seriously I'd rather ignore 'em and save the trouble… or beat them to the ground if they're being asses about it."
"You don't come from a noble family, I do, and lately we've lost quite a bit of status," Ricken explained with a grimace. "I figured I could help my family if I joined the Shepherds, but it hasn't been easy even with all the magic practicing I've been doing. I figured if I could help you out they'd at least notice, or maybe you could put a good word in for me maybe?"
"Huh, guess I had you pegged wrong, that's actually a pretty mature way of looking at things, kid," Ragna admitted before smirking. "Now that you mention it, I've been having trouble with this Elthunder spell. I haven't looked at it much, but maybe you could give a couple of pointers?"
"You got it!" Ricken said with enthusiasm. "Now the first thing-!"
Support Rank B Obtained with Ricken
The Shepherd's march towards the capital was momentarily halted by Robin, Frederick, and Chrom in the front of the group. Looking up ahead Ragna saw a group of several armed soldiers as well as several robed figures carrying tomes of dark magic.
"The Grimleal," Ragna heard Aversa say from beside him with ire.
"There's still time to back out of this fight if you want," Ragna decided to inform. "You grew up with 'em didn't you?"
"I grew up for them," Aversa corrected him with a scowl. "These people mean nothing to me now, especially if they were allies of Validar." Her eyes narrowed as she closely examined the robes. "Chalard…"
"What the hell is a Chalard?" Ragna asked.
"A fanatic of Grima's and a rather large personal annoyance of mine," Aversa informed. "He's also a part of slave trade created by Matthew, one of the Grimleal's council members."
"Slavers, huh?" Ragna repeated with a glare as the Shepherd's formed up. He unslung his sword Aramasa from his belt and rested it on his shoulder. "Let's make sure he doesn't walk away from this."
"Agreed," Aversa said as she let her dark magic channel into her tome. The group of Shepherds was about to proceed, until they noticed a young girl run out of the housing area, appearing to be running from someone. "What have we here? A runaway slave maybe?"
"Maybe…" Ragna said with a frown as he ran to meet Chrom at the front his eyes were narrowed as he looked at the girl. There was something about her that seemed… off, like really off. Ragna then noticed a strange guy come up from behind her and she screamed something at him, but it didn't look like he was trying to hurt her or anything.
"Keep away from that maiden you fiend!" Chrom shouted as Ragna approached.
"Fiend? Gregor is not fiend! Gregor is trying to help wee one escape!" the man said with a voice that seemed slightly rough.
"Gregor? Gregor!" Basilio called out with a laugh. "It's been too long old friend!"
"Basilio! A long time indeed!" the mercenary, now known as Gregor, said with a loud laugh of his own.
"Who are these people!?" the younger one shouted before she began crying. Upon closer examination, Ragna could see pointed ears confirming that there was definitely something different about this one. He could also see that the Plegians were approaching now as well.
"Chrom, we need to get going, I'll handle those two," Ragna told his friend. "Hey! Just stay alive! I'm coming over to help!"
"Help is always welcome to Gregor! Especially when former employer is angry!" the mercenary shouted back.
"You-You're not going to capture and sell me are you?" the little girl asked with eyes still filled with tears.
"Hell no! I'm going to crush those slaving bastards!" Ragna shouted as he rushed forward. Moving along the sand was a little difficult at first, but Ragna was readily able to adapt. A dark mage cast Fire and shot a fireball at him, but the Reaper leapt into the air to avoid the attack before bringing his blade down and messily cleaving the man in half. An archer attempted to get a shot in at him, but Ragna unleashed a ranged Wind Edge attack and killed the man where he stood.
Meanwhile on his side of the battlefield, Gregor was fighting as an expert swordsman would. Using his buckler, he defended against an axe user's swing before quickly retaliating with his sword and decapitating the man. A myrmidon swung at him, but he blocked the attack with his sword before bashing him with his buckler, sending his opponent off balance before stabbing his sword into him.
While Robin and the rest of the Shepherds overtook the main force, Ragna finally managed to make his way over to Gregor and the girl he was protecting.
"Oi! You here to help Gregor, very good!" Gregor shouted as he cut down an opponent mercenary. "But why so quick to trust?"
"You're trying to protect someone and Basilio seems to know you," Ragna said before blasting an opponent with Elfire. "Good enough for me!"
"Yes, things simpler this way, no?" Gregor agreed with a chuckle as he cut down a mage. More enemy reinforcement quickly approached and surrounded the two swordsmen. "Enemy is making with the surrounding. Might be tricky in protecting little girl."
"Then you focus on protecting her," Ragna said as he began giving off his signature dark aura. "I could wipe out this scum in my sleep." He brought his blade back as he prepared to rush forward to the carnage. As he did, the enemy soldiers threatened them by aiming their weapons at the clear, making it clear that they were going for her… all the more reason to end them.
"NO! STAY BACK! GET AWAY FROM ME!" he heard the girl shout from behind him.
"Calm down kid," he tried to say assuringly. "I'm not going to let these assholes-"
Sensing a sudden surge of energy behind him, Ragna quickly turned his head to see a large dragon behind him where she'd had been standing, its scales glittering like crystals. It took a deep breath and blasted a large chunk of crystal from it's maw which obliterated a large group of soldiers.
"...hurt you?" Ragna finished awestruck before shaking the feeling of amazement out of his mind and sending a large Dead Spike at the enemy destroying another large group while Gregor finished off any stragglers. "What the heck are you?"
"I'm Nowi!" the dragon said to him, it's voice having in strange echo to it, similar to Panne's.
"That's not what I-" Ragna began before realizing he didn't have time for this. "Whatever, just be careful alright? I've got to go help the others."
"Gregor and girl will go with you!" Gregor assured him. "Safety in larger numbers, no?"
"Do what you need to, but do it now," Ragna said as he started to run off.
Meanwhile on the other side of the battlefield Panne was heavily engaged in fighting off a group of horse riders. With her agility and power she was quickly eliminating most of the members with relative ease, yet she kept her distance from the rest of her Shepherds, still untrusting to armed humans after what had happened in her warren.
Done with her current group of enemies, she noticed a lone dark armored Paladin heading towards Robin's back flank, its spear drawn as it rushed across the ground as breakneck speeds despite the sand. Being the closest to it Panne quickly rushed toward it and attempted to claw it, but the knight's horse was aptly trained and easily dodge the hit before the knight struck her with his lance.
Panne had thought that her fur would take most of the attack, but that wasn't the case as she felt the weapon tear into her flesh with little resistance. She screamed as she toppled forward, trying hard to maintain her transformed state.
"Hah! I didn't think that there were any of you quivering Taguel were still alive!" the Paladin said as he towered over Panne. "Is Ylisse really so desperate that they'd send a rabbit bastard…" Panne groaned as her transformed state finally faded, the man paused before raising his spear. "A woman? Even stupider! You should have spent your time spawning thousands of those crying whelps so I'd have something to hunt with my Beastslayer! Where's the enjoyment in just hunting one of you! A single Taguel head isn't enough to cover my wall!"
As he brought the spear down on the helpless woman in front of him and shut her eyes tight as she waited for the final blow.
'Mother…' she thought as time seemed to slow. 'I tried… but I don't think I could ever forgive the humans…'
A sudden shattering sound broke Panne out of her helpless state. She saw the Paladin in front of her with wide eyes as he looked at his broken spear, and the back of the man with a crimson coat flowing in the wind as he stood in front of her in a protective stance.
"Who the fu-!" the Paladin could barely begin before Ragna transformed his sword into a scythe and roared as he cleaved the rider in half. The horse gave a startled neigh before trotting off as fast as it could.
"Son of a bitch…" Ragna cursed at the corpse before turning to the Shepherds in the distance. "LISSA! A little help!?"
The cleric nodded as she raised her Physic staff above her head and healed Panne from a distance. The Taguel felt her pain fade as her wound quickly healed and closed itself.
"Can you stand?" Ragna asked as he held his hand out. Panne considered slapping it away before chiding her initial instincts and accepting it. "If you can fight try your best to keep up with us, if not stay back. "We've already got 'em on the ropes."
On the Far Side of the Battlefield
"Curses!" Chalard shouted as he watched his army become completely overwhelmed. He was standing on the edge of one of the oasis near his group's supplies only not have been approached thus far because Robin was ordering some of the Shepherd's to warn the nearby villages. Several spears were impaled the ground behind him, many of them waving banners of the Grimleal. "This can't be happening! Master Grima have you abandoned me?"
"I think you've been abandoned long ago," an annoyed voice said from the side, and one very familiar to Chalard.
"Maybe not," the old man said with a smile. "After all if he's brought you here, that's gift enough to me." He let out a wheezy chuckle causing Aversa's frown to deepen. "Tell me, why have you broken away from your group? Are you thinking of escorting me back to the castle to get back on the winning side of this war?"
"From where I'm standing you're losing badly, in fact I don't think we've suffered a single casualty," she countered. "But no, I'm not here for that; I'm here for you… Did you KNOW?" Aversa's glare was threatening as she grew a dark shade with her magic force.
"So Validar's little slave finally realized it, and now you're whoring yourself to Ylisse," Chalard cackled. "Oh course I knew! The only one in the entire order who didn't know it was you! All those mocking laughs you'd gotten and you still didn't realize! Were you too busy holding on to daddy's robes?!"
"Good point, I should've been putting a knife in your back!" Aversa shouted as she charged an orb of darkness.
"Yes, go on and try, after all your close friend is watching." Charlard's smile was absolutely haunting to Aversa as he gestured with his eyes toward one of the banner bearing spears.
Keeping her spell ready, Aversa slowly glanced to where Charlard was looking before she felt her entire body go cold. On one of the spears bearing a blood stained banners of Grima there was horse's head impaled, a dark horse's head which look like it had been in terrible pain as it died. Aversa recognized what specific horse it was in an instant.
"Oh, my men and I brought along more than enough food, but all of a sudden we had the strangest cravings for horse meat," Charlard explained as he looked at the horse with a wry smile. "Damn beast put up more a fight than we thought, in the end we decided it was best to let it bleed out even if we had to listen to him scream after cutting its wings off. We waited until it was almost completely dry and then removed the tail... its legs... and finally the head." He then turned to Aversa with a taunting smile. "Tell me, what were you feeding that pegasus? It did taste sweeter than I would've thought."
"MONSTER!" Aversa screamed before blasting the man with her spell. The old man was quicker than she would've thought and dodged the enraged attack. He then attempted to drain her was his Nosferatu spell, but she barely felt it hit her.
"If I'm going to die here at least I get to see you suffer! This must be a parting gift from my lord!" he cackled. Aversa cast her spell once more enraged, though Charlard avoided this attack as well. "Foolish bitch! You can't focus on your spells nearly as well can you!?"
"Maybe not," Aversa admitted before grabbing one of the spears bearing Grima's banner and rough tearing the cloth from it.
"Sacrilege!" Chalard shouted at her before she cast yet another attack at him, this time a simple Fire spell. Again the old man dodged, but Aversa then screamed as she rushed forward and impaled the weapon in his gut. "You… filthy… traitor…"
"You're the traitor here, you and the rest of that hellish cult," Aversa said darkly as she pulled the spear out of his gut and let him fall to the ground.
From a short distance away Chrom watched the event unfold and nodded to Robin as the last of their enemies fell. "Looks like we're done here."
"Looks like it, but it's going to get dark soon," she told him. "We should set up camp, traveling here in broad daylight is already dangerous enough."
"What of the villages?" Frederick advised. "They could send word back to the capital."
"They don't seem to want any part of the war," Robin told him. "They have no courier pigeons, no horses, and we'll still be on look out if anyone does decide to run off."
"I suppose we'll have to," Chrom told them. "This is probably as good of a distance to rest as any." He then saw Ragna approaching with Gregor and the young girl from earlier. "Anything I should know?"
"Panne got messed up pretty bad," he told him. "I had Lissa heal her, but let's make sure she's rested enough for tomorrow."
"By a Beastslayer I'm guessing," Frederick put in. "Those weapons were originally intended to hunt Taguel down in days long past, but mainly today their uses have mainly revolved around mounted units."
'Taguel hunts...' Ragna thought to himself. 'No wonder she doesn't get along with any of us.'
"What about the two behind you?" Chrom decided to ask.
"I just don't want to go back to living like a slave," Nowi told him. "Those monsters would throw food at me and demand for me to do trick after trick when I transformed."
"Tr-transformed?" Chrom asked, looking surprised.
"Into a big effing Dragon yeah," Ragna told him, a little perplexed that Chrom hadn't seen it. "That mean anything?"
"It means young one is not so young!" Gregor said with a laugh. "A Manakete is what she is, they live for long long time!"
"Hey, you're making me sound old!" Nowi said before kicking Gregor in the shin which he winced at slightly. "I'm only a thousand!"
"A thousand?!" most people shouted in disbelief.
'Just like Rachel… well long living loli wise at least,' Ragna thought to himself. "I don't want to bring a kid into a war, but she's probably pretty tough."
"Hey, you guys helped saved me for the slavers so I owe you one," Nowi told him with an energetic smile. "Plus your group seems pretty crazy! It's been so long since I've had fun with anyone!"
"Well there you go," Ragna said before looking at Gregor. "And you?"
"Gregor should stick around, he knows there's a bit of money to be made here as a swell sword!" Gregor told them.
"You mean sell sword?" Chrom tried to correct.
"A very swell one!" Gregor laughed. Chrom groaned and shook his head while Nowi laughed. "Now to the making of camp!"
Much Later
Ragna gave a small yawn as he got out of his cot. He'd taken a small nap after the fight to make sure he was well rested for the next day. He knew he'd more or less be fine, but now wasn't the time to take chances, especially since his BlazBlue had been throbbing back in Regna Ferox. He exited his tent and began taking a small stroll around the immediate area. He caught sight of Frederick going from tent to tent, probably doing a routine camp check or some other above and beyond crap the knight was used to doing.
As he continued walking, he eventually passed by Robin and with one glance he could see that something was wrong. For one thing, he'd seen tomatoes with less red than her face.
"What the heck happened to you?"
"I… um, it's kind of hard to say…" Robin began. "I sort of saw Chrom… in the bathing tent…"
"Oh," Ragna answered simply, knowing that this was some strange form of full circle for the two. "So… how did you two deal with it?"
"We sort of just talked it out," Robin told him with a sigh. "At the very least I feel that we both got over a bit of that tension now that we're on… equal grounds…"
"Not exactly the best way to end it, but I guess it's still an ending," Ragna sighed before chuckling. "How shocked was he when he saw you walking in?"
"His eyes were the size of plates," Robin told him, laughing now that the event was behind him. "I kind of feel bad for throwing that soap dish at him though."
"You're quick to fire I'm guessing," Ragna commented.
"I guess," Robin admitted with a smile. "At least I can put this behind me."
As Robin went inside her tent, Ragna stayed outside and chuckled as he tried to imagine how the scene would have played out. Chrom screaming? Check. Robin blaming him? Double check. Hard things getting thrown at our dear prince? Check, check, and check.
His thoughts were interrupted when he heard Robin scream inside her tent. Knowing full well that this could be an assassination attempt, Ragna quickly burst into the room seeing Robin with a large blush as she covered her eyes away and was turned away from… an abomination.
It was a poster of Chrom, probably a motivational poster of sorts with the words 'CHROM WANTS YOU!' on it. It showed a rather… full portrayal of the prince of Ylisse, carrying nothing but a scale and a sword as he posed… naked.
"What… the…?" Ragna said, staring at the poster as Robin tried her best not to look at it. Hearing the tent flap open he saw a sweating and blushing Chrom, holding several of the posters and which appeared to be badly torn. He noticed Robin on the ground and the look Ragna was giving him.
"Frederick…" he panted. "He… thought… it would… raise moral…"
"Say no more," Ragna told him as he ripped up the drawing on Robin's tent wall and followed Chrom outside to dispose of the others, leaving the still blushing tactician inside.
After the two had finally managed to tear down the other posters before anyone could see them they quickly used Ragna's magic to burn them.
"Well that's done," Ragna sighed. "Poor Robin though… having to suffer through that twice in a day."
"I'm a victim too!" Chrom shouted. "Sully was about to give me a black eye for entering her tent! And Vaike nearly tore the papers away from me saying I was hiding something naughty!"
"Ouch," Ragna had to agree. "At least we got them all."
And it was at THAT moment that the two heard laughter coming from one of the tents… uncontrolled laughter… Lissa's laughter.
"I thought you said that you got the ones in the west!" Chrom shouted.
"You said that you already took care of all of the ones on the south side of camp!" Ragna shouted. "Her tent is SOUTH-west ya idiot!"
"Well what am I supposed to do!? Chrom shouted as Lissa continued to laugh. "She's seen the picture!"
"I'll get the poster from Lissa, you talk to Frederick," Ragna said to him. "Could be worse…"
"How could it be worse!?" Chrom shouted at him.
"Frederick could've taken the sword away; it actually covered up most of the damage," Ragna said, making Chrom cringe. "And you think my work policy is absurd."
"Not so much now," Chrom said darkly as he went to find Frederick.
Walking into Lissa's tent, Ragna found the princess rolling on the floor in laughter at the bizarre picture in front of her.
"Don't laugh at him," Ragna muttered as he grabbed the poster and tore it to shreds. "Imagine if that had been you."
"I know, I know…" Lissa said as she wiped a tear out of her eyes. "You can't deny that it's funny!"
"...Okay, true, but I still don't think you should laugh at him."
"Yet you always seem to heckle him," Lissa suggested with a smile.
"Meh, if it's heckle or kiss up Chrom'd prefer the former," Ragna said with a smirk as he headed outside the tent.
The Rabbit and the Reaper
Once he was outside he caught sight of Panne sitting by her lonesome a short distance away from the encampment. Sighing to himself at her reclusiveness, Ragna again headed out to talk to her though he didn't know if she'd even listen to him.
"Mind if I join you?" he asked when he got close enough.
"Do what you will," Panne told him standoffishly. Taking that as a yes, Ragna sat down beside her.
"You alright?" he decided to ask.
"...Thanks to you I'm at least alive," Panne told him before shaking her head. "Sorry, I have a difficult time talking to people or thanking them."
"You just did both more or less so that's progress," Ragna said with a small smirk.
Panne herself gave a sad smile. "I suppose I did…"
"So what are you doing out here all alone? I doubt that sand makes decent company."
"I was thinking to myself about… something from a long time ago. That man from earlier, he talked about hunting my kind, and sad to say that's something that I've witnessed."
Ragna said nothing, he knew how empty "I'm sorry," could sound right now. Panne didn't want pity, she'd most likely wanted to be left alone, but the Reaper stayed.
"My mother she… she told me that I shouldn't judge all humans with scorn, that there are good and bad ones… right before I saw her die with the rest of my home."
"...Then why are you sticking with the rest of us?" Ragna asked. "We're heading to the fight of our lives. If you're really the last Taguel, don't you want to live?"
"You weren't there, but I talked to Emmeryn back in Ylisse, she was kind. She even apologized to me when I told her I'd lost my home, while it was not her duty to do so and no fault lie with her. I trusted her."
"I guess that made her the first human you trusted," Ragna concluded.
"Yes… and then I met you," Panne said, giving him something of a smile.
The Reaper was silent for a long moment before speaking. "Earlier you wanted to know about my master and the Beastkin and I told you that you couldn't find them. Well the truth is… complicated, I'm… well, I'm not from this world."
"I see," Panne said to him. She didn't sound doubtful, more like she was trying to measure the weight Ragna had put on those words and what they'd mean. "Does Chrom know?"
"He does," Ragna told her. "I grew up in a small church in the middle of nowhere. It wasn't much, but I had my brother Jin, my sister Saya, and woman taking care of us so I was happy. Then we were attacked by this sadistic freak…"
Ragna then proceeded to tell Panne his entire story to Panne, a telling that he was quickly becoming familiar with Unlike most other stories though, this didn't get easier to tell over time. Panne didn't say anything throughout, she just listened to what he had to say.
"-and then I wound up in a field outside SouthTown and met Chrom," Ragna finally finished before taking and letting out a deep breath. "So you kept up with all of that?"
"Yes, and it seems like you've been through a lot yourself," Panne summarized sorrowfully. "Is that why you stuck out for me, because you thought we were similar?"
"More like I wanted to make sure you didn't do anything stupid and die on me, but sure, let's go with that," Ragna told her, chuckling despite the current mood.
"Well regardless, you've saved my life so I owe you a debt of gratitude," Panne said to him.
"That's not really necessary," Ragna told her, a little nervously at that.
"I'm afraid it is," Panne told him. "I'd like you to answer me soon, though, I'd prefer if we didn't have debts between us."
"Well…" Ragna began, scratching his head as he looked at Panne. "I do have something, but… it's kind of embarrassing."
Noticing the sudden blush on Ragna's face, Panne began growing worried. 'Oh Naga, he's a pervert.' "What is it you want?"
"J-just close your eyes," Ragna asked her.
Steeling herself for whatever he had planned and readying her foot to plant itself firmly in his groin, Panne complied. She took a hesitant breath and waited for a second… two… then she felt Ragna softly petting the top of her head.
"What are you doing?" she opened her eyes and stared up at him.
"I kinda have a thing for soft animal ears," Ragna admitted before noticing Panne's look. "I-I-I'll stop."
"No!" Panne said, though she didn't necessarily mean to shout. Now Ragna was the one staring and she was the one blushing. "Er… take your time." Ragna shrugged before continuing. Somehow, petting bunny ears relieved him of more stress than he thought… and Panne felt a strange weight lifted off her shoulders as well.
Support Rank B Obtained with Panne
Feeling much better now, Panne returned to the campsite and went to lay in her tent to rest. Ragna stayed outside in the desert for a time and looked up at the stars. Trying to calm himself for tomorrow.
"Looks like this is going to be it," he said aloud, though he knew there was no one listening to what he said. "Either I manage to get Emmeryn out of the capital or I get reminded that I still can't save the people I care about."
Deciding that he'd rested enough for now and that a little further training couldn't hurt, Ragna rose from the sand and dusted his clothes off. He was about to head a little deeper into the sand wastes, but then he saw a familiar face a short distance off from the nearby oasis.
Never Forgotten
When Ragna approached Aversa he expected her to say something snarky at him, something suggestive… he wasn't expecting to hear her crying.
'What the hell…?' Ragna then saw what she was looking down on. A small tombstone. Freshly made from sandy wood. Engraved on the front were a few words.
Here Lies Tenebrae, A Strong And Loyal Pegasus
"How much more?" Aversa could barely say while Ragna stood beside her. "How much more are they going to take from me?"
"Don't ask me, I didn't grow up with 'em," Ragna said curtly as he stared at the tomb. "What else do you have to lose?"
"My life…" Aversa suggested.
"Yeah, they could take that," Ragna agreed.
"What little belongings I have left…" she offered.
"Probably," he admitted.
"My body…"
"They'll try."
"You're not exactly reassuring me," Aversa told him. "Then again I wouldn't say that you were reassuring when I was in a cell earlier."
"Well what's going to keep you going?" Ragna had to ask.
"I have no idea," she admitted. "I feel like… a puppet. I don't have any control, I feel like there's something pulling my strings, just leading me into more and more misery the further along I go."
"Then you know what I felt like," Ragna said as he looked down at the tombstone. "What kind of Pegasus were they like?"
"...It's hard to admit, but he was a gift from my fath- from Validar," Aversa told him. "He didn't listen to me at first, in fact he bucked me off the very first time I rode him."
"Ouch," Ragna said, trying to smirk for her sake. "From how high up?"
"Not very, otherwise I don't think I'd be talking to you," Aversa said, smiling slightly. "Eventually we grew used to each other, he'd always obey my commands when we flew, and I'd sneak sugar cubes from the kitchen for him."
"How many did you keep for yourself?" Ragna asked, a slight tinge of humor in his voice.
"Oh, stop it you," Aversa said, somewhat playfully slapping Ragna's arm before looking again at the tombstone. "They did terrible things to him… he didn't die quickly, they made sure he'd suffer on my account… I can't imagine what he felt…"
"Then don't," Ragna said to her. "Remember the good times you've spent with him, what he meant to you when he was alive, that you miss him. That's enough to do right by him and keep you sane."
"You speak from experience after losing someone dear to you?" she asked. Ragna nodded. He'd hoped that his words might've helped Aversa, but then he heard her crying once more. "I'm sorry… you must think I'm weak…"
"Hardly weakness given what happened…" Ragna began as he glanced around, not seeing anyone in the immediate area. "But… I guess if you needed to be weak, here's a good enough place."
At Ragna's words, Aversa let herself cry in full for the first time since she'd been told about Validar's betrayal. The Reaper slowly brought her into a comforting embrace, gently holding her as she cried into his chest… just how he'd cared for someone he'd loved dearly so long ago.
Support Rank B Obtained with Aversa
Author's Note: Don't own anything.
Quick note, there's a petition going to bring the BlazBlue dubs back. I'm personally a part of it and it you want to join, look it up on Chang org. We're up to 2,400 and can use whatever support we can get.
Review responses.
RedRat8: Thanks, that's what I had in mind for him. He's the the honorable type unlike the jerk, Charlard in this chapter.
EternalCobra34: Hazama would indeed have fun. As for Hierophant, Minos isn't THE Hierophant, that's just the name of his position.
Kalakuai: I have plans for what's coming up, but interesting harem idea.
Rotciv445: We both talked already, but Lon'qu is indeed from Regna Ferox.
Warrior of six blades: Thanks for another long review, It's always great to hear your thoughts.
H Yang: Wow, is it really that many? I didn't even realize… This story got bigger than I thought it would.
Not Guest P: All three of those seem popular, and a connection might exist, we just don't know for sure.
Adv: It really is… Also, working on dubs.
Mugen7: I'd find it hard to believe that Jubei wouldn't teach Ragna ANY sword work. He didn't want him to think of the Azure of his own, and frankly without sword training he'd have to use it EVERY fight, which would be dangerous. Emm didn't give anything much away, Minos knows Ragna's from another world, but there's most likely a lot that he doesn't know. Again, Hierophant, just a title people.
Thunder Dragon: An interesting idea… but I'm not sure I can envision that like you can…
Marconator360: Yeah, Rags and Bullet is always nice.
Guest (1): Thanks for the catch, but don't go around addressing all of my grammar mistakes. I'm going to go back over all of my chapters and fix them all.
Fieryfoxpaws: A straight up thank you? Well you're certainly welcome.
Until next time everyone! Ciao!